WEAH-LED ADMINISTRATION AT 7% OF FULFILLING IT’S 169 PROMISES

….As NAYMOTE Findings Suggest

By Staff Writer

Liberia: The Weah-led Administration has less than two years to the holding of another Democratic Elections. The coming to power of Pres. George Manneh Weah in 2017 was tracked based on promises to Liberians across the country which won him 14 out of 15 counties during the Elections.

During the elections and afterwards, Pres. Weah made a total of 169 promises.

A leading pro democracy group called NAYMOTE has been tracking promises made during the elections by His Excellency Pres. Weah.

NAYMOTE, has for the last four years, covering the period 2018 to 2022 extensively monitored the actualization of those promises.

The tracking is aimed at informing the Public about the status of the promises made in speeches and policy documents as well as to stimulate discussions among citizens and stakeholders and influence ongoing policy discourses and public policy decisions.

According to the Group’s recent report, Pres. George Weah has fulfilled eleven (11) out of one hundred and sixty nine (169) promises. This constitutes 7% of all promises.

Findings of NAYMOTE’s report suggest that after exactly four years in power, the Weah-led administration is yet to deliver on majority of the promises it made to get elected and those made after being elected.

The findings also indicated that 65 of the promises which constitute 38% are ongoing while 93 of the promises constituting 55% have not started or not rated due to limited or lack of available data to access progress made towards implementation.

“Election promises made during political campaign periods formed the basis for a social contract between the voters and candidates, this contract, wherein candidates promise to perform certain actions in return for the votes of citizens needs to be always respected and adhered to, the votes that President George Weah received place an obligation on him to deliver on those things that he promised”.

NAYMOTE tracked and documented 59 promises under pillar one, Power to the People, 5 promises were completed, 20 promises are ongoing, and 34 promises have not started or could not be rated due to lack of available information to access action taken.

Under Pillar Two which is based on the Economy and Jobs,71 promises were tracked and documented. 5 were completed, twenty-eight (28) promises are ongoing, and 38 promises have not started or could not be rated due to lack of available information to access action taken.

As part of the report, Pillar Three under Sustaining the Peace, 10 promises were tracked and documented. Available data show that none was completed, 4 promises are ongoing, and 6 promises have not started or could not be rated due to lack of available information to access action taken.

For Governance and Transparency which is pillar four, 23 promises were tracked and documented but available evidence shows that none of these promises was completed, however, 12 promises are ongoing, 11 promises have not started or could not be rated due to lack of available information to access action taken.

“These pillars are from the CDC’s Manifesto and the national development agenda, this pillar, which is key to strengthening good governance and accountability seems to be the pillar receiving the least attention so far as the evidence shows, what the government has done is to pass and sign into law two important pieces of legislations, the Local Government Act, 2018 and the Land Right Act of 2018. Unfortunately, the implementation of both laws has moved in snail pace”.

Presenting the reports, NAYMOTE Executive Director Eddie Jarwolo pointed out Political accountability is an essential element in ensuring that politicians are held to account for promises that they made during campaign periods and those they made when elected to office.

“The aim of the report is to also serve as a cornerstone for citizens to hold the president accountable for promises made either through policy or verbal commitments as part of social contract between the president and citizens or voters”.

In the last few years, the Weah-led government has been mounting efforts to complete ongoing projects including roads, infrastructure and as well as the formulation of policies to suggest change.